Autochthonous materials, marine organic

Functional processes are essentially the same in both freshwater and marine systems, the differences become apparent when the emphasis is placed on the source of the organic matter (OM). The source of this OM affects the rate at which it is used not the overall process of use (Wetzel, 2000). These rates differ because of the greater influx of humic or recalcitrant materials in inland systems versus the dominating inputs of autochthonous OM in marine systems. These studies show that bacterial populations do respond to differences in the DOM pool. The challenge now lies in increasing the scope of these studies to find patterns in the spatiotemporal distribution... 

Amino acid-like fluorescence is often associated with autochthonous FDOM, and its presence has been consistently related to elevated biological activity in the water column from freshwater to marine systems, including pristine and polluted waters. This fluorescence signal has been positively correlated with chemical characteristics of DOM indicative of microbial derived precursor material, including the bulk signature, the total organic N and aliphatic C content of the DOM (Cory et al., 2007), and the free amino acid or protein... 

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